His
companion shuffled around, much to Nik's consternation, before shoving
the device in his face.

He
narrowed his eyes at her. She was, of course, dangling from a fiber
cord that was attached to the top of the penthouse building so her
fumbling could be forgiven. She flashed him a winning smile, her
blue eyes sparkling.

Nik
sighed and, holding onto the building with only one hand, he took
the torch from her. "You don't have to be so bloody smug over there,"
he muttered. "It's not like we've been given a dress rehearsal."

"Hey,
I'm not exactly comfy-cozy over here. Besides, this isn't exactly
my idea of the ideal Christmas Eve. You're the one who wanted to
get it so badly for him."

"Thanks
for the reminder."

"You
can say 'no' to him, you know. You don't always have to rush off
to do his bidding."

"Faith,
I don't need a lecture," he droned. "What I do need is for
you to shut up so you don't alert the residents to our presence."

"And
cutting through their window won't?"

The
torch illuminated the night, the beam reflecting off of the window.
Nik's fingers ached where he maintained his grip, but he knew it
would only be a matter of seconds to cut through the latch.

Snap.

"Get
the window," he rasped as he closed down the torch with two fingers.

Faith
floated over to the ledge. Only a nudge was required to get the
window open. She slinked inside.

Nik
tucked the torch into the front of his pants and pulled himself
in after her.

"You
sure it's here?" Nik asked.

"My
intel's always good. Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, we're
not even armed. These days, these kinds of things are dangerous
business."

"We're
not armed because we're likely to have our hands full once we get
what we came for. Besides, I made a promise, Faith. How do I tell
him I couldn't get it?"

Faith
didn't answer.

"In
and out," Nik clarified.

Faith
led the way out of the room and down a hallway.

"Third
door on the right," she whispered.

Nik
nodded. When they reached the door, he tried the old-fashioned handle.

"Locked."

Faith
got down on one knee and pushed something into the keyhole. A second
later, she covered her eyes and faced the other direction. A spark
flared out of the keyhole and the door snapped open.

"Capital!"
Nik said. "I knew you'd come in handy."

"Just
hurry so we can get out of here. I'll stand watch."

Nik
stepped into the room. The smell of the small explosive Faith had
used still drifted in the air and spots flashed before his eyes
as they adjusted to the darkness.

If
Faith's intel was indeed correct; the vault he was looking for was
in the far wall. He didn't expect the item to be difficult to retrieve.
After all, no one knew he was coming for it.

In
the old days, before the Government had banned all creative endeavors,
Nik would have expected the vault to be hidden behind a painting.
However, these were different times.

He
ran his fingers over the textured wallpaper. Underneath, he could
feel the imperfections in the surface where the vault was countersunk
against the wall.

A knife
appeared in his hand and he ran the blade down the wallpaper along
the edges of the vault. The paper flapped down, revealing a reflective
surface and a blinking green light on the combination panel.

So
far, so good.

The
lock on the safe was far more sophisticated than he was used to.
Perhaps Faith could have opened it, but he didn't have time to put
her on the job.

So
he pulled the torch back out and ignited it.

First
he sliced the beam over the combination panel, slagging the electronics.

Can't
be too careful.

Then
he nudged up the energy beam on the torch and ran it along the side
of the safe door where the latching mechanism was. He was rewarded
with a satisfying "clank."

He
closed down the torch and again tucked it into his pants.

Rubbing
his graying whiskers, he scrutinized the vault one more time. It
did not seem as if his exploits had set off any alarms.

Okay.
Play it straight, Nik. No more wasted time.

He
flung the door open and flashed a hand lamp inside.

Propped
up in the vault, was a thick notebook.

Nik's
hands closed around it and pulled it out. He flipped through it,
giddy with excitement.

"It's
all here," he breathed. "All of it!"

"And
that's how it shall remain... Here," a deep voice interrupted.

The
lights snapped on.

Nik
spun to face the newcomer. The man stood rigidly straight and was
aristocratic in bearing, all but for the fact that he had Faith's
arms pinned behind her head and held a particularly ugly looking
laser pistol up to her temple.

A
rich sonuvabitch who's done nothing but profit from the war,
Nik thought.

"Put
it back, my good man, and I won't splatter her brains against the
wall."

"That
would be a waste of a pretty face," Nik quipped.

"I
would be more concerned with my fine wall," the man said as he gestured
toward the vault. "But I see that it has already been damaged."

Faith
tugged at the man's grip but to no avail.

Nik
pulled the laser torch from his belt and held it up to the notebook.
"Surely you don't want to lose an item of such value." He grinned
lopsidedly. The man's eyes fluttered. "It appears we are at an impasse,"
Nik added.

The
man pushed Faith into the wall and tracked his pistol to over to
Nik. "There is no such thing as an impasse," he droned as he squeezed
the trigger.

Nik
fell back, feeling the heat of the laser blast as it passed his
cheek. He dropped the torch but managed to maintain a hold on the
notebook.

Faith
kicked the man behind his knee, forcing him down.

"Grab
the torch!" she cried. "It's our only weapon!"

Nik
fumbled across the floor to the torch, but the notebook was too
heavy for him to carry it with only one hand. "I can't carry them
both!" he called.

The
man was picking himself back up. Faith kicked him again, this time
in the groin. Cross-eyed, he reached for his nether region. Faith
scooped up his pistol and crossed the room to Nik, swiping the torch
from in front of him.

She
rolled her eyes. "I can't take you anywhere."

"What
are you talking about?" he asked as he stood back up. "You're the
one who was supposed to be standing watch!"

They
fled the room, leaving the man there with tears pouring from his
eyes as he rocked back and forth.

"We're
only three floors down from the roof," Faith said.

"Right.
Follow the script." Nik clutched the notebook to his chest.

They
reached the end of the hallway, which opened up into a foyer. A
door that presumably led out of the penthouse suite stood before
them.

Just
as Faith reached for the handle, all of the lights came on, accompanied
by a screeching alarm.

"That
ought to wake everyone up," Nik commented.

Faith
tried the handle. "And shut down all the doors. No time for finesse."

She
leveled the pistol at the door. The shot took a bite out of the
wall in addition to vaporizing the door latch.

She
kicked it open. "Let's go."

They
emerged into a corridor.

"Lift
should be to the right," she said.

Nik
nodded and they charged ahead.

They
reached the lift with no pursuers.

"You
think they gave up?" Faith asked as she stabbed the button on the
control panel with her finger.

"Not
likely. Not considering what we've just pilfered."

"The
lift's not moving," Faith observed.

"They
must have shut them down when they set off the alarms. Staircase?"

They
both glanced around. "That's got to be it," Nik announced. They
darted for the door they'd just discovered. In the distance, they
could hear the boot falls of their assailants.

"So
much for a clean escape," Nik muttered.

Of
course, the door to the staircase was also locked.

Faith
obliterated the obstacle with the laser pistol.

They
took the stairs two at a time. Below, they could hear their pursuers
gaining.

"Enforcers?"
Faith asked.

"More
likely private security. Probably just as deadly though."

They
reached the end of the staircase and, with another quick blast from
Faith's weapon, burst through the door onto the roof.

The
wind assaulted their faces. Nik sniffled at the cold air.

"It's
starting to snow," Faith said.

"Might
make things slippery," Nik agreed.

In
the distance, their hover car sat just where they had left it.

Sanctuary...

But
the distance was such that they would never be able to get to the
car before the enemy arrived. All their assailants would have to
do was target the hover coils. They'd either be captured or they'd
fall to their death. Either way, Nik would have failed to bring
back his prize.

He
wasn't about to let it go now.

"Take
the book and get the car," he said. "Leave these blokes to me."

Faith
cocked her head but didn't question him. Then she tossed him her
pistol.

"You'll
need this more than I."

He
spun to face the staircase, tucking the pistol into the back of
his belt. In the distance, he could hear Faith charging toward the
hover car.

Script
be damned! I've always been better at improvisation.

He
rubbed his whiskers and scrutinized the door for just a few seconds
before the night lit up with laser bolts from inside.

Nik
hit the ground.

Sheesh,
don't they know I'm trying to work?

He
jerked the gun back out and fired a few random shots into the staircase
while scrambling for the door. No one screamed out, so he imagined
he hadn't hit anyone.

That
was actually fine with him.

With
a huff, he flung the door shut. He stood and engaged the latch.

That
won't hold them for long. What to do?

He
whipped the laser torch out and took the beam quickly across the
hinges of the door. In his periphery, he caught a glimpse of the
hover car as it came about.

The
door heaved as the men inside blasted away at the latch. Nik set
the laser pistol to its highest setting.

Okay,
boys. You want it open? You got it.

Nik
disengaged what was left of the latch, stood back and emptied the
pistol into the door.

Without
the latch and the hinges holding it up, the door flew back into
Nik's pursuers, knocking them all back down the stairs.

The
hover car swung up beside him.

Exit,
stage left!

Nik
plunged through the open viewport.

"Onward,
my dear," he smirked as he hugged the notebook back up to his chest.

An
hour later, after they took the hover car through some increasingly
powerful snow flurries, they were cleared to pass through the checkpoint
into the resistance camp. It was Christmas Eve and it was late,
but Nik was certain the people he was going to meet would still
be up.

He
burst into the tent of his good friend Chance, the leader of the
creatives' resistance against the Government. Faith trailed in behind
him.

"Greetings
all," Nik cheered.

"Where've
you been?" Chance asked. "We were starting to get worried."

Nik
smirked. Chance's new girlfriend, Mancy, and her seven-year-old
son, Remy were also in the tent. The boy was working out some sort
of a melody at a small pipe organ, but now gave Nik his full attention.

"What's
that you've got there?" Mancy asked.

Nik
beamed. "It's for Remy, actually."

"Hope
he likes it," Faith breathed.

He
stepped forward and placed the notebook in front of the boy.

Remy
opened the book and stared into it, a sigh escaping his lips. "You
got it!" he exclaimed.